Chapter 79

Old Li had already been dismissed by the company.

The moment his game character died, he was packed up by robots and sent out of the Warring States Building.

Old Li was scared out of his wits.

He said that during this period, he had been secretly investigating the whereabouts of the eleven colleagues from Tianshui Village. Through some well-connected sources, he learned that five of them had indeed died for various reasons in their public rental apartments.

Because the death scenes were excessively horrifying, all information had been sealed off by the authorities and never spread.

Using certain means, Old Li obtained some photographs from the scenes.

There were no bodies…

Only tattered clothing soaked in dried, dark-red blood.

The doors and windows of the apartments were tightly shut. The bodies appeared to have been eaten clean by wild beasts, leaving behind only dried bloodstains and scenes of utter chaos.

To prevent panic, the authorities had sealed the information very tightly.

After receiving these photographs, Old Li became even more terrified and confirmed his suspicion that those who had been dismissed earlier were likely all dead.

Because without exception, the game characters of the eleven players from Tianshui Village had all been eaten by wolf packs in their sleep.

“Wangchuan.”

“Save me.”

“I don’t want to die…”

Old Li’s voice carried the sobbing tone of someone driven into a corner.

“Old Lin, Wei Zhe, Zhang Kai—I can’t get through to any of them no matter how I call. You’re the only one who can help me now, Wangchuan.”

“…”

Hearing this, a trace of instinctive wariness rose in Su Wangchuan’s heart.

Lin Dahai and the others had been with Old Li for over half a year. At a time like this, they should have logged out to comfort him. How could their phones be unreachable?

Something was wrong.

Based on his understanding of Lin Dahai, Zhang Kai, and the others, they were not that cold-hearted.

Could it be that the situation in Blackstone Village was not over yet?

Had something happened there?

“Old Li, don’t panic yet. I’ll go take a look at Blackstone Village. Maybe the troublemaking martial artist hasn’t left.”

Su Wangchuan reasoned that the masked man who killed over the wild boar had to be a martial artist, very likely a ranked martial artist. He was worried that mishandling the situation in Blackstone Village might trigger an even more tragic incident.

He quickly hung up and called Instructor Yu to ask about the situation.

Old Li’s game character had died. The head of the gold farming department would definitely know.

Instructor Yu, however, sounded surprised and countered,

“Wangchuan, are you not fully awake?”

“Old Li’s incident happened yesterday. He died of a heart attack. It seems Heipi’s parents went to his public rental apartment again, and he collapsed on the spot!”

“Are you sure you really received a call from Old Li?”

Instructor Yu’s serious tone did not sound like a joke. It hit Su Wangchuan like a heavy hammer, leaving him stunned.

Old Li had died yesterday?

Why had he not known?

And…

Who would prank him by calling in Old Li’s voice and begging for help?

Su Wangchuan was utterly confused.

He checked his call history again and discovered that there was no incoming call from Old Li at all.

He froze again.

No call record?!

What had just happened?

Had he imagined it?

Instructor Yu’s voice continued from the other end.

“It’s true that something happened in Blackstone Village. Someone was indeed killed outside the village yesterday. Old Li was unlucky and died under a throwing knife. Looks like someone used Old Li’s name to prank-call you.”

“But Blackstone Village is fine now.”

“Apparently Zhao Heiniu didn’t want to escalate things. He voluntarily handed over the wild boar’s corpse and let the other party take it away. After that, he sent people to report the case to our county authorities… but we still don’t know the other party’s identity.”

Instructor Yu’s words finally gave Su Wangchuan a clearer outline of events.

Something had indeed happened in Blackstone Village.

But it had happened yesterday.

Old Li had died yesterday.

So the person who called him today must have used voice alteration and a changed phone number—and even blocked call-backs entirely.

What was their purpose?

A pure prank?

Or… something else?

He did not know.

Instructor Yu sighed.

“Wangchuan, you don’t need to worry about Blackstone Village. It’s over now… Old Li really was unlucky. His body has already been sent for cremation. Out of humanitarian concern, the company will settle his wages for this month with his family and provide some humanitarian compensation.”

“As for the rest, it’s beyond what we can control.”

“And the person who called you—most likely just a prank. As long as it doesn’t continue, let it go. The dead are gone. The living must go on.”

With that, he hung up.

Su Wangchuan sat silently for a long time, unable to recover.

His phone did not ring again.

Thinking back, Old Li’s voice had indeed sounded strange. The sobbing mixed with tremors was very different from his usual voice. That might have been why Su Wangchuan had subconsciously believed the caller was really Old Li.

But who would be bored enough to prank someone using a dead man?

None of the people from Blackstone Village seemed likely.

There was another point that bothered him.

Although Instructor Yu had handled the matter decisively, Su Wangchuan noticed something:

From start to finish, Instructor Yu never mentioned whether Old Li had been dismissed by the company;

Nor did he explicitly mention Old Li’s game character’s death;

Only that Old Li had suffered a heart attack afterward.

Although Instructor Yu attributed the heart attack to Heipi’s parents causing trouble, what if that was not the real reason?

Based on Su Wangchuan’s understanding of spirit realm, players who were killed in the game seemed to die in the real world in corresponding ways…

Old Li’s heart attack might simply have been triggered by Heipi’s parents.

But what was the underlying cause?

It was too bizarre.

If there truly was some unseen causality, some overlap between virtual reality and fate itself…

Then was it possible that the Old Li who called him was not a prank at all, but a soul that had not yet completely dispersed?

Su Wangchuan clutched his head with both hands. The deeper he thought, the more unbelievable it became, and the more chaotic his mind grew.

After a long while…

He could not help muttering to himself,

“First Heipi.”

“Then Tianshui Village…”

“Now it’s Old Li.”

“If a game character’s death means the real person also dies… who will be next?”

A chill rose in Su Wangchuan’s heart.

At this moment, the millions he had accumulated in his account brought him not even the slightest sense of security.

Standing before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, he saw that his face had turned frighteningly pale.

As he looked out at the world beyond, a powerful sensation surged within him—

He was not standing at a high vantage point.

He was trapped inside the belly of a colossal beast, facing annihilation at any moment.

“So it really is like this.”

“Sudden, unearned gains always demand a price.”

“And that price…”

“May very well be life itself.”

Su Wangchuan leaned against the glass, letting out a self-mocking smile.

“Maybe none of us are lucky ones. Maybe we’re just unlucky souls marked by the devil.”

“Enough.”

“No matter what…”

“Surviving is more important than anything else.”

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